Part Thirty-Four
Flurry Heart crammed her flaming horn into the snow, instantly creating a puddle of sludge and water. She pulled her horn out and shook her head like a dog, spraying bits of mud across her mane. She sniffed and smelled burning mud, so she plunged her horn into another snowbank with a sizzle.
After shaking her head again, Flurry tore off the shredded sleeve of her flight jacket and used it as a makeshift rag to clean her horn and eyes. Her mane was a lost cause. The alicorn tossed the rags into the muddy puddle and rolled the rest of the sleeve up her foreleg.
Kristoff, an old yellow griffon with orange feathers, appraised the massive hole in the side of the mountain. He squinted through his binoculars as he peered down the tunnel, standing with his crew at a safe distance from the alicorn and the gaping wound in the earth.
“I do not see light yet, Princess! Again!” he screeched in Herzlander.
Flurry huffed. She had listened to the old bird ramble about angles, degrees, and structural integrity, but she was beginning to lose her patience. The test holes along the side of the mountain were a testament to Kristoff’s expectations on the tunnel. “The sides are too jagged,” he would say, then “the sides are too round,” and finally “the slope is too steep.”
This new hole was far larger than the others, expansive enough for two trucks to pass side-by-side. Flurry appraised it with a tired look. Far Sight always told me only dark magic could be fueled by anger, but it seems lasers can be too. The joke hardly improved her mood.
Flurry dug her hooves into the snow, took a deep breath, and lashed out with a lance of pure energy, sending it at a five degree decline down the tunnel, per Kristoff’s instructions. She heard the beam give a discordant chime as it impacted stone and felt a dull vibration echo around her horn as it bore through the rock. She kept pouring energy into the continuous stream until she felt a trickle of blood on her lips just as the pressure in her horn released. She cut the spell off and wiped her nose on her bare foreleg, grimacing at the blood.
Her horn sparked and sizzled, and Kristoff dumped his canteen on her head, flapping his wings above her. He held her crown in his other claw. “I will save you the embarrassment,” he remarked graciously.
Flurry shook her mane and ignored the wafts of steam coming from her smoking horn.
“The tunnel is complete,” Kristoff announced and landed next to the alicorn. The griffon pulled on his simple uniform, a practical jacket with thick wool pants and leather boots.
“What?” Flurry asked, indignant. “You haven’t even checked!” The edges of the tunnel still glowed red-hot from the heat, making heatwaves shimmer across the entrance.
“I do not need to,” Kristoff answered. “I heard the blast echo across the mountains form the other side.”
Flurry squinted at the griffon, who sat and waited with a stopwatch for the tunnel to cool. The alicorn fired a beam of frost down the tunnel; it dissipated into water and steam.
“Do not do that,” Kristoff snapped. “It will make the tunnel brittle.” He did not look up from the watch and offered her the crown with an outstretched claw.
Flurry ground her teeth and waited, crown in place on her head.
After several minutes, Kristoff stood, whistled, and caught a gas mask tossed by one of his workers. He fastened it to his beak and flew slowly into the tunnel, followed by three griffons with headlamps and mining helmets.
Flurry Heart paced in the snow, occasionally reaching up to feel her crown with a wingtip.
The griffons returned sooner than she expected. Kristoff landed and waved the others away, back to the stockpiles of timber and metal sheets near the road. Flurry chose the mountain because it was already part of a smuggling trail. The road was small and narrow, but cutting through the mountain saved days of dangerous climbing and travel time.
Kristoff pulled his mask down. “The tunnel goes through,” he stated and Flurry sighed in relief. He raised a claw to crush her good mood. “However…”
Flurry’s horn involuntarily sparked.
Kristoff noticed the small blue flame and lowered his claw. “The tunnel is acceptable,” he admitted. “It leads to a series of valleys; we spotted the other side of the trail below us.” He shrugged his wings. “The tunnel is very smooth, but the trail is not. We need time to smooth and expand the trail, and time to reinforce the tunnel.”
“How long?” Flurry asked.
“A week,” Kristoff guessed, “provided the workers in Evergreen pull their weight and clear the forests in the valleys.”
“They will,” Flurry promised. “You have three days.”
The old griffon clacked his beak and laughed. “I learned from the dogs of Bronzehill. I can do it in two.” He turned to his work crew, gathered around the supply tents and parked trucks. “Get to work, lazy mutts!” he screeched, ignoring that his crew was entirely griffons. “The Princess wants her hole ready!”
Flurry snorted. You might not find jokes like that funny once words gets out. She shook her head and slowly flew away, taking a moment to sync her wing beats. She had expended more than enough magic this morning, even for an alicorn.
Flurry dumped her plane, critically low on fuel despite multiple teleports, at the airbase in Evergreen. Fighters, bombers, and a few transports had already arrived, parked along the runways. The logging crews were working overtime to clear more space around the airfield for two more airstrips and runways.
Inside the city, every home quartered at least a squad of pony militia, in most cases sleeping on the floor. The hotel suffered a similar fate, now a permanent headquarters for the frontier. The civilians in town, mostly ponies, put up with the disruptions with their heads held high; it was mandated by their Princess.
Despite their attitude, Flurry knew that Evergreen was stretched to its absolute limit. The frontier city didn’t hold a candle to the size of even a modest city on the coast. The beleaguered ground crews at the airfield didn’t notice Flurry landing her plane with magical guidance in a small, cleared field. Even if they did, Flurry teleported away to Kristoff before anypony could pepper her with questions.
We have to move quickly, Flurry thought, and pushed her oversized wings harder. She was sweating by the time she made it back to Weter, despite the chill wind and snow drifting down from the north. The alicorn felt the cold wind bite her lungs when she breathed in, and glared at the snow on the streets below her. She spotted several patrols in Aquileian blue flying or walking the streets; the Nova Griffonians gave them space.
Are they afraid of them, Flurry wondered idly, or are they afraid of me? She passed over her crater from the Capitol Building, now filled with muddy snow, and landed on the rooftop of Weter Radio. Echo saluted with a shivering wing and quickly bundled her coat back up.
“What are you doing here?” Flurry asked curiously.
Bat ponies were meant for tropical climates; they lived predominantly in southeast Equestria for a thousand years. Supposedly, the bat ponies came from there, instead of descending from the tribes fleeing the windigos, but Flurry had heard too many stories about Luna creating them to believe in legends. She believed her eyes, and the little bat pony’s knees knocked together as she danced from hoof-to-hoof to stay warm.
“I-I lost a-a bet,” Echo admitted, fangs chattering against her lips. “My s-sister outdrank m-me last night and m-made me take the day s-shift.”
Flurry rolled her eyes and lit her horn, sending a low-powered heating spell that washed over the mare. She raised a hoof and sniffled, turning her head to hide the small trickle of blood.
Echo sighed with relief. “Thank you, Princess,” she bowed, scraping her wings against the snow as she nearly prostrated herself on the roof.
“It’s fine,” Flurry said quickly and set her hoof down. “It’s temporary; it won’t save you from freezing. Who’s here? I need our field commanders present.”
Echo pinched her lip with a fang. “Everyone’s here, Princess. Governor Fierté called a meeting early this morning.” She hesitated, then added, “After you left.”
“I see,” Flurry hummed. “Thank you.”
The alicorn wiped her hooves in the stairwell before descending down towards the lounge. The guards in the doorways waved her through quickly. The radio room was a frenzied nest of activity as griffons and ponies rapidly compiled and referenced field reports all along the coast. Flurry sidestepped around a griffon carrying clawfuls of paper and balancing on her hind legs; the stack was so high she didn’t see the alicorn in front of her. For once, the room didn’t stop to stare at the lean alicorn as she crossed the room.
A griffon flapped her wings and unrolled an updated map along the wall. Flurry stopped to stare up at it. It was a map of the ocean between Nova Griffonia and the Griffonian Reich, from coast to coast. The ocean was clear, except for ships in the south. The flying griffon added small pictures of planes and guesstimates of air wings in Vedina, the province of the Reich across from Nova Griffonia. The numbers were far smaller than a week ago.
Flurry jolted as a brown earth pony collided with her flank. The stallion had turned away from a radio and sprinted right into her flank, spilling reports from between his teeth. “Excuse me, Princess,” the stallion apologized.
“Forgiven,” Flurry said, “I’m in the way.” She picked up the papers in her magic and offered them to the stallion. “What are these?”
The stallion sat on his flank to collect them in his hooves; he rapidly shuffled through them. “They’re reports from the border patrols,” he explained, then frowned at her and offered a sheet of paper. “This one’s old. You can have it.”
“Why?” Flurry blinked.
The stallion lowered his voice. “Your nose is bleeding, Princess.”
Flurry took the sheet of paper and mushed it against her nose with a hoof, looking around to see if anypony else noticed. Luckily, the room was too busy.
“My father was a unicorn,” the stallion said sympathetically. “He got nosebleeds when he overused his magic.”
“I’m fine,” Flurry deflected and crumpled the paper into a bloody ball. She stuffed it under her wing and stormed away, pushing through the crowd to get to the lounge.
Jadis guarded the door with another crystal pony. She saw Flurry’s head and horn emerge from the desks and saluted while the other mare opened the door. Flurry stumbled on her hooves slightly, but masked it as a stretch.
“Jadis, with me,” the alicorn ordered and swept through the door.
The lounge was once again a mess of creatures staring at maps, reports, and coffee mugs scattered on the large table in the center. Governor Fierté had Jacques and Eagleheart with her on one side of the table, with Spike, Thorax, Dusty, and Duskcrest on the other. They all watched the alicorn stride across the room to the table, but Jacques and Duskcrest didn’t stop talking to each other.
Progress. Flurry collapsed into an empty chair in between the parties after Jadis shut the door behind them. She tossed the paper ball from her wing under the table in a smooth stretch. The alicorn took stock of her advisors and frowned.
“Where’s Katherine?” Flurry asked.
“Under guard and awaiting interrogation on another floor,” Thorax answered with visible reluctance.
“I need her here,” Flurry said with a snarl, “and I said she wasn’t to be punished.”
“All of the rooftop guards witnessed her holding you at gunpoint,” Jadis answered with a frown. “Word already spread through the building. We can’t just let her walk away.”
“She tried to kill you,” Spike pointed out.
“Oh,” Flurry gave a bitter chuckle, “isn’t that what you were trying to do this morning?” She laid her bare foreleg on the table. “You have quite the grip, uncle Spike.”
“That wasn’t what I was trying to do,” Spike answered defensively with arms crossed. “I was trying to stop you from killing yourself.”
“Really?” Flurry asked. “Is that why you picked Katherine to distract me?”
Spike’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re the one who put her on that roof with me,” Flurry continued, speaking casually. “How’s Rainbow?”
“Repairing her wing,” Spike answered. “You tore apart her rigging and she spent all morning getting the straps fixed.”
“I'm glad she's alright. You look good,” Flurry offered.
“Dragon scales are resistant to magic,” Spike snorted, “and Twilight cast that spell all the time to try to put me to sleep as a fledgling.” He buffed a scale on his arm with a talon.
Flurry laid her other foreleg on the table and surveyed the room with a sigh, meeting each of the adult’s eyes for a moment. “How many of you were part of the plot against me?”
“There was no plot against you,” Spike said bluntly. “We were trying to-”
“They asked me but I told them it was pointless,” Jacques interrupted with a shrug of his wings. “You will do what you want.”
Flurry's lips curled. “Who asked you?”
Fierté sighed and raised a claw. Duskcrest and Dusty stuck up their forelegs in one motion. Jadis, who sat next to Flurry, looked apologetically over at the Princess and held up her crippled foreleg. It shook slightly from the effort. “I am sorry, Princess,” she apologized, “but I could not allow you to throw your life away.” Spike didn’t raise his arm, but stared at Flurry unblinkingly.
“I was unaware of a plot,” Eagleheart said slowly in accented Equestrian. “I have been handling the garrisons on the coast.”
Flurry looked at Thorax. He kept his hoof down. “You’re surprised,” the changeling observed with a sardonic chuckle.
“Yeah,” Flurry admitted.
“I told Spike it would just make you more committed,” Thorax explained, “but my friend didn't want to listen.” He jerked his head fin over to Spike aggressively.
“I wouldn’t have needed to try anything if my friend supported me instead of just giving up!” Spike countered and growled at the changeling. “If you’d have been there, you would have known what Katherine was doing!”
“Enough!” Flurry whinnied and slammed her hoof down on the table. The wood cracked under the impact. “You’re all pardoned for treason,” Flurry sighed. “Congratulations.”
She shot a dark look over to Thorax. “Go get Katherine. She’s pardoned for attempted regicide or whatever. The gun wasn’t even loaded.”
“We don’t know where she got it or how she got it through the guards,” Spike protested.
“It’s Nova Griffonia,” Flurry replied. “There’re more guns than griffons here, all thanks to Blackpeak’s armories. And she’s my friend. Why would the guards be suspicious? How many of you are armed right now?”
Duskcrest looked down to the holsters under his wings; Fierté cleared her throat and looked away. Jadis shifted the rifle slung on her flank. Thorax flashed a small pistol in his green-tinged magic from a pocket while Dusty spun her revolver with her horn and holstered it again. Jacques whistled innocently and nudged Eagleheart with a wing. The Aquileian unicorn sighed and revealed a large knife strapped to her foreleg. The blade shot into the table with a flex of her hoof, then retracted back into her sleeve.
Flurry blinked at the display with the rest of the table. “Why do you have that?” she asked in Aquileian.
“Family heirloom,” Eagleheart answered vaguely, “and I always have my magic,” she added with a flourish of her horn.
“I’m not armed,” Spike said and gestured to himself.
“You’re a dragon,” Flurry snorted. “You’re always armed.”
Thorax stood. “I’ll be back,” he called over his shoulder. “Katherine’s fine, still a little shaken up.” Flurry waited until the guard closed the door.
“I bumped into a unicorn with reports on the border. What’s going on?” she asked once the door shut.
“We’re seeing movement on the southern border,” Fierte stated. “The Changelings are shuffling troops. They have better radar than we do; they probably knew that the Reich was adjusting targets.”
“We need to talk about that,” Spike butted in.
“With Katherine,” Flurry dismissed. “Are there more Changelings on the southern front with Equestria?”
“Not yet,” Fierté said, “but the Herzlanders won’t be able to hold the fort line against a continuous attack. Heartsong and Barrel Roller are still in Evergreen with most of the militias.”
“You were there this morning,” Jacques addressed Flurry with a flourish of his claw. “Poor Captain Cloud Hopper found your plane on his airstrip and panicked at the claw marks all over it.”
Spike cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“I teleported there,” Flurry explained, “after I found a battle group heading south this morning and none of them took the bait. It looks like Grover accepted my offer.”
“What do you mean by bait?” Dusty asked with dread in her tone.
“I flew around without a shield and tried to get them to shoot me,” Flurry shrugged. “It didn’t work.”
A small jet of flame came from Spike’s mouth involuntarily as he growled with anger. Flurry shot him a warning look. “How are we at the supplies for Evergreen?” she asked with a bite. “Or did you ruin that as part of your plan?”
Spike took a moment to recompose himself, breathing in and exhaling while pushing his claw away. It’s the same breathing exercise my mother taught me, Flurry noted.
“We set aside practically everything we seized from the coast,” Spike started.
“He means what we took from the rich,” Jacques interrupted with a laugh.
“Combined with what we raided from the supply depots and the Republicans,” Spike continued with a frown at Jacques, “we have enough to supply a small army for a month on an offensive.”
“By that, he means an assault on favorable terrain with good weather,” Fierté added. “We can’t make it over the mountains.” She raised a claw. “By air, yes, we could send planes, but we don’t have enough transports for an army and all their supplies.”
“I already dug the tunnel,” Flurry revealed and flipped through the maps on the table. Her map of the Crystal Empire was buried underneath a map of the frontier. Flurry dragged it out and set it on top.
She tapped her hoof on the line through the mountain. “Kristoff and his dig crew are working with the logging company in Evergreen to connect the road to the trail.”
“You blew a hole through Mount Grimpeak?” Duskcrest asked with surprise.
“This morning,” Flurry replied with a nod. “It leads to a series of valleys.” She moved her hoof down the trail and diverted just before the tundra. She picked up a pencil in her magic and circled another valley, recessed into the mountains. A railway from the Crystal City ended there.
“This is about half a day’s slow trot from the trail,” Flurry began. “It was a mining settlement called Ironbend.” Flurry wrote the name on the map. “Now, it’s a slave camp for the Changelings. Ponies spend all day mining iron ore to ship back to the Crystal City. I met a pony that escaped there at one of the soup kitchens.”
“What if it’s abandoned? Have we scouted it?” Dusty asked and squinted at the map.
“No, that’ll ruin the surprise,” Flurry countered. “We lead a quick strike force through the mountain and take Ironbend, then secure the railway. The army uses the rail to push towards the Crystal City and relieve the air assault.” Flurry drew a line down the railway, circling each town. “Hit every town hard on the way. Don’t slow down.”
“What if there’s no trains?” Jadis asked with a frown. “What if the Changelings destroy the trains when you attack?”
“I’ll teleport some over from Evergreen,” Flurry answered easily. “We can connect the railroad through the mountains later. The hole’s certainly big enough.”
A drop of blood fell onto Ironbend.
Flurry stared at it, confused, before abruptly leaning back and wiping her foreleg across her muzzle. It came back with a streak of red on her pink fur. She sniffled and tasted blood on her lips. Her eyes flicked to each of the adults.
“It must take a lot of magic to bore through a mountain,” Dusty said quietly. “Are you all right?”
“Princess, I have a rag,” Jadis spoke up and began searching through the pockets on her uniform.
“I’m fine,” Flurry said forcefully and waved Jadis away with a hurried wing.
“Nope,” Spike replied. “You need rest, hydration, and carbohydrates.”
“Don’t act so concerned,” Flurry admonished and rolled her eyes. “Not after this morning.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Spike snorted in a casual tone.
Flurry reared back involuntarily. Spike rarely swore.
“You wait until your dear friend is gone before taking that tone?” Jacques observed.
“You remind me of a really, really annoying friend I once had,” Spike said to the griffon, then stared at Flurry with half-lidded eyes. “You’re as stubborn as Twilight, probably worse,” the dragon admitted with a small frown. He unfolded his arms. “She pushed herself all the time. Celestia drilled it into her to stop before she crippled herself with Magical Exhaustion.”
“I am fine,” Flurry repeated.
“You got a nosebleed from lifting a pencil in your magic.” Spike counted on a claw. “You’re slumping your weight against the table to keep your hooves steady, and your eyes are unfocused.”
Flurry blinked a few times and scowled. She planted her front hooves on the table and sat up, letting her forelegs support her body. Then, she extended her wings and held them rigidly with primary feathers splayed out.
Jadis moved to the side to give her wings room. Flurry took a deep breath and glared at Spike, who just looked back placidly. His slit pupils flicked down to her hooves and he pursed his lips.
Flurry looked down and saw her front hooves trembling as she struggled not to buckle and slump against the table. She folded her wings and sat down again quickly. “We don’t have time for games,” she huffed.
“Okay,” Spike shrugged. “I’m sure you know your limits.”
Jadis took her seat again, looking at Flurry from the corner of her eye. She glanced away when Flurry turned to glare at her.
Thorax entered behind Flurry with Katherine meekly following with drooped wings. Her eyes were red from crying, and the fur around them was matted down. Flurry motioned with a wing and a soft smile to the chair on her right, but Katherine followed Thorax around the table and took a seat next to Jacques.
“How are you?” Flurry asked in Herzlander.
“Better, Princess,” Katherine said in a small voice.
“They didn’t hurt you?” Flurry asked and gave Thorax a suspicious glance.
“No!” Katherine protested with a squawk. “Arex and the others protected me! They didn’t tell you?”
Flurry turned to Jadis questioningly.
Jadis rubbed her bad hoof. “When word spread around, some of the guards wanted to, uh, hurt her.”
“They wanted to break her wings and throw her from the roof,” Jacques elaborated. “Mostly ponies.”
“Katherine is my friend,” Flurry stated. She narrowed her eyes and dropped her voice to a growl. “Nothing happened. The next one that pushes the issue is getting hurt. Severely.”
“Okay,” Fierté shrugged. “I can make that official policy. Griffons will keep their beaks shut, but some ponies might need a slap.”
“Do it,” Flurry nodded. Katherine didn’t look relieved. If anything, she looked even sadder.
“So,” Jacques clapped, “onto the big news!” He snapped a claw and gestured to the maps. “According to all reports, the Reich withdrew its airplanes and navy at precisely midnight. The Kaiser pushed the deadline to the last possible moment, but he folded to your request. Planes and ships have steered clear all morning.”
“No way the cub actually did it,” Eagleheart spat in Aquileian. “It’s a trap.”
“I agree with Eagleheart,” Fierté concurred. “The Kaiser is trying to lure our troops off the coast. If we commit to Chrysalis, I don’t have the griffs to defend against a renewed air and naval invasion.”
“I agreed to open another front against Chrysalis,” Flurry pointed out. “She’ll attack us anyway.”
“What else did you agree to?” Thorax asked pointedly, but with a calm voice. “You said you’d tell me.”
Flurry bit her lip. She looked over her shoulder and cast a locking spell on the door, then waved her horn across the room. The walls shimmered blue. When the blue sparkles faded, Flurry braced her hooves on the table as a fresh stream of blood flowed from her nose. Her ears popped as the spell sealed the room. She panted raggedly and smeared the blood across her foreleg.
“Flurry!” Spike snarled, “Enough!”
“I promised him mineral and oil rights,” Flurry rasped, “for the Crystal Empire and Equestria. I promised to share our magical knowledge with the Reich; they’ve always coveted how Equestria was the breadbasket of the world. I promised our industry, whatever’s left of it. He acknowledges me as the rightful Princess in exchange.”
Dusty, Jadis, and Spike looked horrified. The others were ambivalent.
“You’d reduce Equestria to a puppet!” Dusty whinnied and flailed a foreleg. “You’d just be a puppet to Grover!”
You’re going to love this, Flurry thought sarcastically, but answered, “We’ll be a puppet anyway to whoever helps us rebuild. We have the resources, whatever Chrysalis hasn't stolen, but we don’t have the money or the ponypower. Might as well make it official now rather than later.”
“What about the River Federation?” Jadis asked.
“They haven’t even attacked the Reich while half the army is over here,” Fierté spat. “Chancellor River Swirl’s policy is purely defensive; it’s the only thing the Riverlands can agree on. The River Parliament will never vote to send aid or volunteers, let alone to sink their economy trying to rebuild another continent.”
“What about Zebrica?” Dusty asked desperately. “I worked in Hippogriffia for a few years, studying the ruins around Mount Aris. They’ve always supported Equestria.”
“Zebrica’s a mess,” Spike admitted. “Queen Novo sent us support during the war, but they got attacked by Wingbardy and withdrew. They’re in no condition to help us; we tried to get their help during the uprising. They’ve been fighting their neighbors on-and-off since the war.”
“I don’t care about Zebrica,” Duskcrest interrupted. “What about Nova Griffonia? Any deal with the Kaiser will make every griffon nervous.”
Katherine fluttered her wings uncomfortably.
“I keep Nova Griffonia; everyone in it is my subject,” Flurry replied. Her wings twitched in sync with her tail.
“Well, that’ll be a relief,” Fierté sighed. Thorax squinted across the table at Flurry.
Just say it now. Flurry inhaled and choked on her words. Dusty and Duskcrest resumed some conversation between each other while Jacques watched with a smirk. She spit out in one breath, “In exchange I marry Grover.”
The room went quiet.
Spike’s fins twitched and he cocked his head. “I’m sorry?” he asked.
Flurry licked her lips. “In exchange for Nova Griffonia,” she clarified, “I will marry the Kaiser.”
Spike nodded absently, eyes distant and looking far past Flurry. “That’s what I thought I heard,” he said mildly.
For one long moment that Flurry Heart treasured, everyone was quiet.
Then, Jacques broke out in wild squawks of laughter.
And everyone else started screaming at Flurry.
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I imagen its like grover 2 and his wife exsecped reversed with flurry the worrior Queen and grover the admidestrator
The mother all Dual Monarchies.
Jacques continues to be best birb, no questions asked.
Can’t wait for the global reaction to the marriage. I’m already imagining strongly worded letters of condemnation from the Ex-Princesses and the River Federation.
Holy mother of Celestia, that is some next level basedness coming from Jacques. Jacques is best birb.
Well uh, celestia will have a heart attack when the news breaks
Actually, Flurry is quite smart, playing the long game here. Being an alicorn, she'll naturally outlive Grover, so long as nothing untowards happens to her. Thus, when Grover dies, Flurry will inherit the Reich and all the griffons will be her citizens, and all their territories, on both sides of the ocean, will be hers.
Yes, having to spend decades as Grover's wife will be heart-breakingly miserable for her, but in the end, she'll gain everything and everygriff under his power for herself, to rule and to help as sovereign for centuries, perhaps millennium afterwards.
Short term pain for very long-term gain.
11366858
Like the analysis.
Tall order for Miss "Blood Streaming From My Nose Because I Keep Overusing My Magic."
That's...optimistic.
11366862
Oh, there'll be barriers, no doubt. Many will want the power she will have, and will try to incite revolt, both openly and politically, to stop it. Grover, being a griffon, will have no rightful heir, since Flurry is a pony, and pony-griffon hybrids aren't a thing in this story, so that'll complicate matters more. But in the decades she'll have to live with him as his wife, Flurry will remain young and healthy (magical stress-induced nosebleeds and ailments aside), while Grovers becomes more frail and elderly. She'll take over things piece-by-piece, a bit at a time, year after year.
Of course, others will see this (and probably will have already recognized it from the first announcement of the arrangement), and will try to make plans to somehow limit her power or overthrow her or change the system once Grover is dead, but by then Flurry will have been entrenched in the system for decades, and most griffs alive by then would have lived their entire lives with her as co-ruler, and couldn't imagine a life without her. Unless she does something very cruel that turns her against the majority of the population, she'll basically be almost untoppable by conventional means or political devices.
Plus, the biggest benefit in Flurry's favor...she has real friends, who'll be with her every step of the way to ensure her success, whereas all the other wannabes will have are lapdogs (no offense to diamond dogs or other canine species 😉).
11366867
Since when?
11366867
Aren’t hippogriffs pony/griffon hybrids?
11367005
Well, ponies and griffons have been living side-by-side now for quite a few years in the story, and there aren't any hybrids running around, are there? Yes, by-and-large, the two types are keeping to themselves and are somewhat animositous towards each other in general, but there's been enough interaction between them that at least some ponies and griffons would've shacked up by now, and some hybrids would be mentioned, if it were possible (unless I missed something? I came into the story rather late, so I kinda binged on the chapters mostly at once).
Then again, Flurry is an alicorn, so I guess all bets may be off the table in that respect. Who knows? But there's been nothing in this story so far to suggest it.
11367226
Kirin are supposed to be pony/dragon hybrids, but just like the hippogriffs, it was never made canon, or mentioned officially as such. Technically, griffons themselves are part lion and part eagle, but unless multitudes of lion prides somehow went on mating flights with scores of giant eagles of similar size, then its just coincidence...or, ya know, magic.
11367787
Yeah I just disagree with all of your conclusions. Have a nice day.
11367787
If I remeber in "Equestria at war" was mentioned hybrid of unicorn and deer in country of Barrad.
Considering everything said, the main question should be if Grover agrees to the marriage.
And, again, considering everything, I doubt he will.
But then, how he knows then will Flurry deliver on her promises?
Feels really nice returning to the story and seeing how things unfolded. Especially since now I know I was right most of the time. I'm telling you guys, the virtues --> emotions --> actions method is supreme to all other tools of interpretation.
As to Flurry's marriage proposal, I'll allow myself to quote a very important piece of literature from my culture, because it expresses what I think well:
The following is a free translation by me.
If you thought austro Hungarian empire was a mess, you ain't seen anything yet son, here is the..... Uh.... Pony-Griffon, equine-griffon, crystal-herzlander? Dang it!
11370302
Eh, it was mainly a mess because it was really two different countries and Hungary (or rather its nobility that made Wisconsin’s Gerrymandering look amateurish) was constantly undermining Austria as well as the functionality of the Imperial government, fighting virtually any reform or modernization tooth and nail to a standstill, all while oppressing the cultural minorities that made up like half of the Kingdom of Hungary’s population. Austria, meanwhile, had plenty of its own minorities and problems and didn’t have the strength and will to fight Hungary.
All of this was characterized by a monarch who, while in many ways a Reactionary (for example he believed in his devine right to rule) or very conservative had far more limited power than his 18th century predecessors or the Russian Tsar. Point being, his power was rather limited and even if he’d wanted to he’d have had very few tools at his disposal to get Hungary to follow his and Austria’s lead, and that, combined with all those minorities in Hungary who’d probably support stuff like “language taught in schools is a local decision” being disenfranchised, is what made it so dysfunctional.
Simply put, its problems, while closely related to being a large, multiethnic empire, were largely structural and institutional, and proper leadership, reform, and management would see something rather stable.
Flurry is unlikely to have most, if any, of those issues.
I would have laughing my ass off if I'm in this meeting
11369591
Hmm interesting reading that and learned some lessons thank you
This is a certified Assassins Creed moment
Why is he the only one who seems to actually get her thought process?
still my favorite